Woops! Acropora Impulse buy!

[mrg02d]

Hello all,
I just did an impulse buy and picked up two acropora frags. No idea what kind they are. (I should have asked). One is greenish and the other is very dark purple.

I built a small egg crate mag float rack to keep them up high in the tank. After completing this, I hate how it looks. :-( Looks so odd...I think I will buy some dry base rock and pile it up instead of stick with the frag rack. My lighting is a 24in 96W, T5 Sundial. How close to the lights should the Acros be?

I read they need alot of flow. All I have is a Koralia 1 powerhead and my Fluval 305 filter pointed against the Koralia 1 flow. I am guessing that this isnt enough. How much do I need? Would adding another Koralia work? Should all the flow be in the same direction? (I have opposing currents right now).

Any more tips? After buying them, I read they are hard as **** to keep.
:-( Just wanted something different!

Good news is that my Nitrates are still ZERO!

Thanks!
Matt

 

[ryshark]

Hello all,
I just did an impulse buy and picked up two acropora frags. No idea what kind they are. (I should have asked). One is greenish and the other is very dark purple.

I built a small egg crate mag float rack to keep them up high in the tank. After completing this, I hate how it looks. :-( Looks so odd...I think I will buy some dry base rock and pile it up instead of stick with the frag rack. My lighting is a 24in 96W, T5 Sundial. How close to the lights should the Acros be?

I read they need alot of flow. All I have is a Koralia 1 powerhead and my Fluval 305 filter pointed against the Koralia 1 flow. I am guessing that this isnt enough. How much do I need? Would adding another Koralia work? Should all the flow be in the same direction? (I have opposing currents right now).


Any more tips? After buying them, I read they are hard as **** to keep.
:-( Just wanted something different!

Good news is that my Nitrates are still ZERO!

Thanks!
Matt

Well, the good news is that if you can keep it colored up and alive you will be hooked. The colored sticks are by far my favorite corals to keep and also the most challenging.
Now for your questions. It doesn't really matter what type of Acropora they are at this moment, at least we know they are acropora.
You mentioned buying new base rock to add to your tank. Don't you already have live rock in there?
You don't want to start out by putting the new Acros close to the lights in your tank because they are not used to them. Start them out on the bottom for about 5-days or so and then move them up to about mid-level and then leave them there for awhile Then you can put them in their final spot.
Yes, they need a lot of flow but DO NOT put them right in front of your powerhead. They need a lot of random indirect flow. NOT in the same direction. Make the current in your tank as crazy as possible. What size tank do you have? I can't say if you have enough flow or not without all of the details. Taking into consideration that your T5 is only 24" long, I'm guessing your tank is around 30-gallons?
Do you know which T5 bulbs do you have?
Your Nitrates being zero is ok, way better than them being above 10, but we can address this more later.
I hope your ammonia and nitrite is also zero. Now that you have stony coral you need to start testing your Alkalinity, Calcium and Magnesium. I have found that the cheaper API test kit is good for Alk, but for Mg and Cal I prefer to use the Elos or Salifert kits. It is very important to keep these parameters stable and in the correct range. Especially the ALK. Also, what is your tanks PH and Temp? Here are some pictures of my acros and sps on pages 21-23 http://www.aquariumadvice.com/forums/f11/180-gallon-upgrade-starts-now-109263-21.html

 

[mrg02d]

Hello,
I have a 20gallon tank. Cycled 10months ago.
My lights are 10k and Actinic (two 24w bulbs each for a total of 96W).
My KH is at 8dKH
Calcium is at 500ppm (kinda high?)
Dont know Magnesium, ill have to pick up a better kit.
Ammonia, Nitrite, and Nitrates are all zero.
pH is around 8.2
Water temp at 79F
Salinity at 1.025

I have about 20lbs of live rock, covered in coralline. This only rises half way up the tank, so I figured id get some dry base rock to stack up for the SPS corals (they need to be closer, no?)

Tankmates: 2 clowns, 1 sixline wrasse, and a strawberry baslet (I know, I know, but hes the only one I could find to stand up to the mean clowns). A skunk cleaner shrimp, two emerald crabs, a pom pom crab, and handfull of hermits and snails. Copepods coming soon. (Got to build them a safehouse since the wrasse is a pod ninja). Oh yea, one crocea clam.

I have calcium+magnesium suppliments as well as KH buffer to use if needed.

Matt

 

[Mitchell0605]

Your calcium is high. 350-450 is ideal.

 

[mrg02d]

Your calcium is high. 350-450 is ideal.

Yup, I thought so too. Maybe I should re-test.
Matt

 

[ryshark]

Your paramters aren't too bad. The Cal is high like you guys already talked about. What saltmix are you using? Stop dosing Calcium supplement until your Cal drops down to 400-420 and try to keep it there. Meanwhile, keep an eye out on your Dkh which is ok right now. Aslo, stop dosing Mg until you test for it. I think you already have enough live rock and your acros should be fine on top of the rock you have. Just start them out towards the bottom and work them up and on top of your rock work over a couple weeks. Do your T5s have individual reflectors on each bulb? Your flow should be ok for now too since the Koralia 1 is 400gph, just keep it random like you already have it. The total flow is a little low, but it is good enough for now. Remember, keep your parameters as stable as possible, particularly Alkalinity.

 

[mrg02d]

Hello,
I will stop the calcium dosing until it falls. I was dosing before since the salt mix is supposed to result in 360ppm calcium. (Reef Crystals I believe).
Magnesium is part of the Calcium suppliment.

As for the extra live rock, I need to add it since there is little area to put them. (The tops are taken up by the crocea clam and a montipora (which seems to be taking over its side). Right now, the acros are on the sand bed (elevated somewhat by some eggcrate).

I could add another Koralia PH if it would help. Would another Koralia 1 do the corals good?

T5s have one large reflector that is zigzagged such that each bulb has its own "reflecting region".

I have been bringing up KH slowly over the last few days. (It was at 7dKH). Should I stop now that I have added the acros? (Its at 8dKH today). Or should I keep going till I am around 9-10dKH? (Small doses every few days of buffer).
Matt

 

[ryshark]

Hello,
I will stop the calcium dosing until it falls. I was dosing before since the salt mix is supposed to result in 360ppm calcium. (Reef Crystals I believe).
Magnesium is part of the Calcium suppliment.

As for the extra live rock, I need to add it since there is little area to put them. (The tops are taken up by the crocea clam and a montipora (which seems to be taking over its side). Right now, the acros are on the sand bed (elevated somewhat by some eggcrate).

I could add another Koralia PH if it would help. Would another Koralia 1 do the corals good?

T5s have one large reflector that is zigzagged such that each bulb has its own "reflecting region".

I have been bringing up KH slowly over the last few days. (It was at 7dKH). Should I stop now that I have added the acros? (Its at 8dKH today). Or should I keep going till I am around 9-10dKH? (Small doses every few days of buffer).
Matt

Reef Crystals is supposed to have higher Calcium than 360. You said that Mag is part of the Cal supplement, so my guess is that you are using Seachem which is fine. It doesn't actually increase Mag but it helps maintain it.
Adding Live Rock to make more Real Estate for coral is ok. With that much Live Rock I would say go ahead and add the extra Koralia 1. You want good flow and no dead spots in the tank. The more rocks the more decreased flow.
I think what you are doing with the frags in regards to placement and light acclimation is good.
You can keep bringing the DKH up to around 9 or stay at 8. Either way is fine. If you do decide to bring it up to 9, just do it slowly over days and then maintain in there. I like to keep my dkh at 9 because I feel that I have a little buffer for error on either side. If I drop or raise the dkh on accident, I will still be in the acceptable range. Do you have any pictures of the Acros? I'd like to see them.

 

[mrg02d]

Reef Crystals is supposed to have higher Calcium than 360. You said that Mag is part of the Cal supplement, so my guess is that you are using Seachem which is fine. It doesn't actually increase Mag but it helps maintain it.
Adding Live Rock to make more Real Estate for coral is ok. With that much Live Rock I would say go ahead and add the extra Koralia 1. You want good flow and no dead spots in the tank. The more rocks the more decreased flow.
I think what you are doing with the frags in regards to placement and light acclimation is good.
You can keep bringing the DKH up to around 9 or stay at 8. Either way is fine. If you do decide to bring it up to 9, just do it slowly over days and then maintain in there. I like to keep my dkh at 9 because I feel that I have a little buffer for error on either side. If I drop or raise the dkh on accident, I will still be in the acceptable range. Do you have any pictures of the Acros? I'd like to see them.

Hello,
you are right about the reef crystals. I actually have something different, stored in a different container. ( I forget what it is, but its time to buy some more salt anyways)

I just ordered a Koralia 2 power head (was 2$ more). 600gph. I could have one power head on one side, the second on the other side, and the 305 fluval output pointed to the front side. This would be three different currents. Sound good?

I will get some pictures tomorrow.
Thanks!
Matt

 

[Mitchell0605]

The aim is to get the currents from the PH's to hit eachother, causing swirling, random currents in your tank.

 

[ryshark]

Hello,
you are right about the reef crystals. I actually have something different, stored in a different container. ( I forget what it is, but its time to buy some more salt anyways)

I just ordered a Koralia 2 power head (was 2$ more). 600gph. I could have one power head on one side, the second on the other side, and the 305 fluval output pointed to the front side. This would be three different currents. Sound good?

I will get some pictures tomorrow.
Thanks!
Matt

Sounds good. Since those Koralias aren't controllable, do what Mitchell said